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Detroit mom wants answers after 7-year-old son has part of his finger severed at school

Posted: 4:55 PM, Jul 03, 2018

Updated:2018-07-03 22:40:23Z

By:
Kim Craig

A mother is looking for answers after her 7-year-old son had part of his fingered severed while at school.

"It's when I get to Henry Ford (Hospital) when they unwrapped it and I see the bone sticking out is when I see his finger is gone," said Camilla Barnes, the mother.

Barnes says it was only at the hospital that she saw the horror of what happened to her son's finger. She said that the day it happened, the staff at Henderson Academy called her and told her to come to the school, but they downplayed the emergency, she said.

"I never knew it was amputated," Barnes said. "No one told me. The doctors did."

Barnes and her attorney, Jonathan Marko, say the incident happened last fall when Jason, Barnes' son, was in class. His teacher began losing her temper when he couldn't fold his paper the right way, so she told him to sit in the hallway, Barnes said.

"Jason tried to get back in the classroom, she saw the door opening," Marko said. "She got angry and lost her temper and recklessly shut the door and it cut off the tip of his finger."

Barnes said she believes the teacher was frustrated.

"I believe she was frustrated and when she put him out, she didn't purposefully," she said. "I believe she was neglectful when she did it."

Barnes' attorney, Jonathan Marko said, "This is a case of 'I've had it with you kid,' and she lost her temper and slammed the door and it was like a guillotine on his finger."

Barnes said that when the nurse handed her a plastic bag, she had no idea it contained part of her son's finger until she arrived at the hospital.

"The nurse handed me the bag and said you might want to take this with you when you go to emergency," she said. "Still not telling me that's the tip of his finger amputated off. I'm thinking maybe some skin needs to be stitched... I'm not thinking it's an emergency if you tell me 'may'."

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